


Daybreak

by Riona



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Bedsharing, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-08 21:59:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16437599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riona/pseuds/Riona
Summary: Set after season two. There aren't enough beds at Camp Jaha. Some people are going to need to share.





	Daybreak

There were barely enough sleeping facilities to go around before the forty-two kids returned from Mount Weather; there certainly aren’t enough now. Some of their people are going to need to start sleeping in shifts if they want to free up more beds.

Abby, as chancellor, explains the situation to the camp. “We’ll draw up a bed-sharing rota if we have to, but I’d like it if we could get all the sleeping space we need through volunteers. If anyone’s willing to give up a bunk or to accept someone into theirs, please talk to me or to Kane. Let me be the first to offer space in my bed.”

“You didn’t tell me you were planning to volunteer,” Marcus comments, when they’re back in the chancellor’s office. “You’d think being chancellor would make you exempt.”

“It’s because I’m chancellor that I have to volunteer,” Abby says. “The people need to know their leader is willing to make the same sacrifices she’s asking of them.” She shrugs. “Besides, the chancellor gets a double bed, and we don’t have many of those. Someone else might as well benefit.”

Marcus looks at her for a moment. “You’re making me feel I should volunteer myself.”

She smiles very slightly. “Are you actually volunteering, or are you just saying you feel you should?”

Marcus laughs. “I’m volunteering. After what those kids have been through, I think they deserve a bed to themselves.”

“Great,” Abby says. “Well, you and I can share the chancellor’s bed.”

Marcus pauses. “We’re just making that decision on the spot?”

“It’d need to be someone I trusted to have access to the chancellor’s quarters,” Abby explains. “To be honest, I was hoping you’d put yourself forward.”

“We need to work together, don’t we? We’ll need to make sure we have enough shared waking hours.”

“We’ll work it out,” Abby says.

-

They work it out. Abby sleeps for six hours, from 2000 hours to 0200; Marcus sleeps from 0230 hours to 0830, allowing her half an hour to wake and get dressed; they supplement their sleep with naps during the day when necessary. Marcus feels he’s not _really_ participating in the bed conservation effort, not when he’s sleeping in the chancellor’s double bed; he should probably be sharing a regular one-person bunk, he should be one of the people. But it frees up his old bed for use either way, and Abby’s right; they can’t just allow anyone into the chancellor’s quarters.

Sometimes the bed is still warm.

-

Abby seems tired today, distracted. Did something happen? Bad news about Clarke?

“Is something wrong, Chancellor?” Marcus asks.

She looks up from their efforts to map the surrounding terrain. “Everything’s fine. The peace is holding. That’s actually...” She pauses. “What do you want to do?”

“What do I want to do?” Marcus echoes. “We should be planning. There are so many scenarios we haven’t—”

“I didn’t ask what we _should_ be doing,” Abby says. “I asked what you _wanted_ to do.”

He frowns at her.

“We can’t feel like we’re just waiting around for the next tragedy,” Abby says. She interlocks her fingers, stretches her arms. “The times in between are important too. Life shouldn’t just be the hard parts. There are things we want; there are things we enjoy. If they’re practical, we should be making time for them. We’ve been working too hard, Marcus.”

What does he want? He wants to see more sunrises; he’s seen a few already, but he hasn’t had the opportunity since his sleep schedule changed. They look different every time when you’re watching them from Earth, and he’s still blown away by it. He wants to learn more about grounder culture. He wants...

“What do _you_ want?” he asks.

“I’d like to spend more time with the people I care about,” she says. “Ideally without all these political concerns getting in the way.”

Clarke. Who disappeared into the wilderness without a goodbye. “We’ll find her, Abby.”

She gives him a quick smile. “I hope so. But I can’t pin everything on that. I need more in my life than my work and my daughter.”

He watches her, and she watches him, for a long, silent moment.

“It’s just something to bear in mind,” she says at last, looking back at the map.

He stays where he is, watching her study the terrain, her face in profile, her hair falling over her shoulder. What does he want? He wants...

-

Abby’s still in bed when he goes to take his sleep shift. He hesitates in the doorway.

“Marcus?” Abby asks, sleep heavy in her voice; it’s like hearing it through glass.

“Sorry,” Marcus says. “I didn’t mean to wake you. I’ll come back later.”

“No, I’m sorry. I just...” She sighs. “I think I’ve been overdoing things.”

“Really, it’s fine. I can just sleep later this morning.”

“I’m not going to deprive you of sleep as well, Marcus,” Abby says, sharper now. “There’s room for both of us in the bed.”

Marcus hesitates.

Should he refuse? Would that be more uncomfortable than accepting? If Abby is comfortable enough with him to be prepared to sleep in the same bed, and he turns down the invitation, what conclusions will she draw from that? And he doesn’t want to evict her, and he _does_ need to sleep; he could try to stay awake for however long she needs, but the idea doesn’t exactly appeal.

He could look for a spare bed elsewhere. But at two in the morning, with the shortages, it’s doubtful that he’ll succeed.

“I could sleep on the couch,” he says.

“You really don’t need to be gallant,” Abby says. “I’ll get up.”

“No,” Marcus says. “No. No, it’s fine.”

He strips down as far as he dares, boxers and long-sleeved undershirt. The air feels somehow very still and unreal in the dark. He’s not looking at Abby, it’d feel too strange to find her looking back at him, but he can hear her shuffling towards the side of the bed, to make room. For him.

He climbs into bed and lies facing away from her, her warmth at his back. Closes his eyes. Tries to sleep.

-

He wakes sharply with the realisation that something’s stirring nearby, there’s someone in his room, there’s someone in his _bed_ —

Abby, he remembers, it’s Abby, and he lies there with his heart hammering, fighting not to curse audibly.

She’s obviously noticed him tensing up, though. “Sorry. Did I wake you?”

“Don’t worry,” he manages to say.

“I’m just getting up. You can go back to sleep.”

He checks the time. It’s 0543.

“Do you need to get to the medical bay?” he asks.

“I’ll check in on it,” Abby says. “I won’t be starting work this instant, unless there’s an emergency. Maybe I’ll see if I can arrange to take the day off.”

“Finding time to do what we want, huh?” he asks.

He thinks she smiles at that; it’s hard to be sure in the darkness. “Exactly.”

“I’ve been thinking about what you said,” he says. “I’d like to see more sunrises. Maybe I’ll get up now, go back to sleep after.”

“I think that sounds like a great idea.” A pause. “We could switch our shifts, if you’d like. You could be the one who’s awake for sunrise.”

They could. He could be awake in the early mornings, alone. Watch every sunrise, alone.

“Do you want to join me?” he asks. “I was thinking of walking to higher ground for a better view.”

“I’d love to,” Abby says.

-

They fall into a new pattern; they go to bed together around ten, wake up around six to watch the sunrise. They don’t discuss it, exactly; it just happens. They both get more sleep, and they both have the chance to enjoy the beauty of the planet they’ve miraculously found themselves on, and they’re awake during the same hours, so it’s easier for them to work together.

It only makes sense.


End file.
